Black tea from the Yunnan region of China. Yunnan tea is easily identified by its luscious soft leaves, and a unique peppery taste. Our 'Yunnan Gold' as the name implies is an exceptional quality tea with beautiful gold-colored leaves and an abundance of rich peppery flavor. Allowed to take only one tea to a desert island, 'Yunnan Gold' would be our clear choice.

Ratings & Reviews

I like this tea, at least when I give it a good week or so between tastings. I'm not sure why I get sick of it, but I do. I think it's the leaf-pile scent that remains after my nose gets used to the sweet and fruity aromas.

With that confession off my chest, let me stress that this is a quality tea with a lots of complex flavor that somehow doesn't get lost even though there's this up-front sort of astringency. Instead of a dry-mouthed tannin taste, what lingers is very pleasant. If it reads like I can't write about this tea without mixing up the pleasant and unpleasant, that's about right. What matters is that the tea never fails to engage, and I keep coming back to relive the experience.

Oh, I also tend to start out drinking this without any sweetener. By the time I finish the cup I usually add a bit. It's more enjoyable with it, but it's so interesting without.

This tea is mostly golden buds, and it is very similar to the other tea I've sampled that looks most similar to it in appearance, which was Life in Teacup's Yunnan Golden Bud. Smooth and peppery. Compared to that tea, this one has a softer peppery quality. Both teas are slightly Keemun-like.

Requires a long brewing time to bring out the flavor, and does not become too bitter even with a 5 minute or longer infusion.

Aroma is immediately distinct as a black tea from Yunnan...fruity, somewhat malty, very fruity. Not as fruity as the dry leaf suggests. Flavor is extremely smooth...no initial bite, bitterness, or edge. Rather, a tannic quality comes through in the middle of the sip, but dissolves into a clean aftertaste.

More so than other Yunnan gold teas, I found that the taste in the middle of the sip more closely resembled other strong teas, but this taste also vanished rather quickly.

This tea is reasonably priced among other teas of its class, these pure golden Yunnan teas. Still, I find I actually prefer the darker Yunnan teas, which tend to be less expensive, have more bite up-front, and have no less complex of an aroma.